ABSTRACT
Electrical energy storage is a key technology required to overcome power fluctuation and improve dependability of on-grid supply of renewable energy, which is an imperative to reduce dependence on fossil fuel as well as to reduce CO2 emission. Electro-chemical energy storage involves a host of batteries like flow batteries and secondary storage batteries where energy is stored respectively in the active species dissolved in the electrolyte and in the active species in the electrodes. There is intensive effort to enhance gravimetric energy density by using porous electrodes in Li-ion batteries, which is marked by very high efficiency (~95 to 98%) and flexible discharge time from seconds to weeks. Rechargeable flow batteries, particularly vanadium based redox flow batteries, have been developed for MW level energy storage and application of porous electrode improves cycling energy efficiency and decreases polarization of electrodes. The proposed chapter reviews the status of use of porous materials in electrochemical storage.
